


April

by Moransroar



Series: Fantastic Beasts drabbles [2]
Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Everybody Lives, Family Fluff, M/M, Magic, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, performing magic for the first time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-27
Updated: 2017-10-27
Packaged: 2019-01-23 20:16:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12515692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moransroar/pseuds/Moransroar
Summary: A young witch, a flower that just won't grow, and a birthday.Evangeline Florence Graves is a quick learner.





	April

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally a school assignment that I rewrote a little to fit this pairing.  
> Evangeline Florence Graves is an OC of a friend and myself, please be gentle with her, we love her very much.

Evangeline stared at the little bulb under a thin surface of soil with a frown on her face. She’d been so supportive, she’d cheered it on, encouraged it in any way she could, and yet there was no flower in sight, not even the slightest hint of green to announce its arrival. She didn’t know what was wrong. She’d read a book about gardening and she had followed the steps for this particular flower very closely. The problem was, she would find out when she picked up the book again, that this flower was not made to bloom in early spring. And as it was April, well…

Poking at it hadn’t helped, either. The little girl had hoped that maybe, just maybe, the bulb needed physical encouragement. Her cat Azrael always needed a poke in the ribs in order to move or start doing something and the young girl didn’t see why it would be any different with flowers.

There was an urgency behind it when Eva glared at the ungrown bulb some more. She _needed_ it to start doing something, as there were only a meagre three days left until the birthday. She needed this flower. Even if it was just a single flower, just a small one – it didn’t matter as long as it was real and it was a flower and she could give it to her papa in three days.

She was about to give up. Azrael lay tucked warmly against her thigh where she sat cross-legged on the floor in front of the small pot, and even he seemed to think that she should just give up. But no, Evangeline told him, “I’m from a very special family with very special books and I will find a way to make my papa’s flower grow if it’s the last thing I ever do.” And she rose from her spot on the floor to do exactly that. Azrael trotted behind her. He was always up for doing something that wasn’t exactly allowed.

Eva knew exactly where the library was in their house. Although she was not allowed inside, she had passed by it many times before, had even see a glimpse of what it looked like inside when father was there one time and he’d left the door slightly ajar. That was months ago, though. Maybe even years. Evangeline reckoned it might have changed since then.

For a room that wasn’t meant for kids as father had put it, it was very easy to get into. Too easy, actually. It wasn’t locked. Or so she thought. She would later come to know that it was locked to anyone but the ones with the genes of the Graves bloodline. She was just lucky that she was part of that exact bloodline, or else she would have been locked out until one of her parents helped her get access.

The door swung open with a delicate creak. Eva had expected the room to be dusty and old like the libraries she’d always seen in pictures, but instead it actually looked well looked after. Well preserved. And it was beautiful. The ceiling was high up, the bookcases lining the walls directly to Eva’s sides were of a dark kind of wood that she did not recognize, and the floor was covered in all sorts of colourful carpets and rugs. There was a large wooden table in the centre of the room with books covering most of the shiny surface. In the back of the room, lining the far wall, there were shelves with all sorts of pots and vials and glass containers that Eva knew better than to even approach. She’d not touch them. No, sir. She also hoped that she wouldn’t have to walk up the spiralling staircases on either side of the room to get to the book that she needed. She didn’t like the look of those stairs for some reason.

Luckily her fathers’ collection on flowers was easy to find, since papa liked to do some gardening on the rooftop of their house. Eva had been allowed up there a few times to watch the plants grow, and every single one of those times had been wonderful. She had been completely stricken with awe, marvelling at the bright colours, the reds and greens and yellows and purples, and everything in between. And that’s exactly why she wanted this flower to grow so badly. She wanted her papa to look at it and have the same reaction as the one she had had every time father had helped her climb up the narrow stairs to the roof of their New York apartment. Papa was going to be proud of her. He had to be.

Eva found a book she thought might be useful and quickly returned to her potted bulb. Azrael stuck close to her heels as always, as if encouraging her, as if he could feel that she could do it. He believed in her the same way she believed in him.

Now Eva just had to say the words right. It proved to be a much bigger task than she’d ever imagined it would be. Half of the words on the page she’d chosen didn’t make any sense to her. What if she got the pronunciation wrong and accidentally turned Azrael into a potted plant? It would probably not be the first time that he’d been turned into anything else because the last time Eva had gotten a hold of her father’s wand when he’d left it on the coffee table before going to work she was pretty sure she’d turned him into a cactus. Papa had been confused but proud. Father had been… She couldn’t even remember but she thought he had laughed. That was also one of the first times that father let Azrael on his lap to give him some comforting neck rubs.

Although Eva liked thinking back to that, she had to get on with the task at hand. Azrael gave a sound of agreement. They were really doing this.

The first time Eva directed the words at the potted bulb, the carpet underneath it turned green. She panicked, because she didn’t know how to turn it back, but Azrael laid down on it and stretched his black body out and it had seemed like his dark fur had rubbed off on it because a moment later the green spot was gone and the carpet was just the carpet again.

The second time Eva directed the words at the potted bulb, the pot nearly shattered. If only papa was there. He was good at fixing things.

The third time (and third time’s a charm, right?) Eva directed the words at the potted bulb, a tiny string of green pushed forth from the little round thing in the earth and began to sprout. It grew, and then it grew some more, and it grew more and more until Eva was afraid it was going to grow up all the way to the ceiling and there would be nothing that she’d be able to do to stop it but….

Then it stopped growing. It was a few feet tall, almost taller than Eva was, but it had worked. It had worked!

Azrael and Eva did a little dance in the living room.

It was a good thing that the little girl’s parents weren’t home.

 

And then three days later papa’s birthday came around, and Eva was beaming. She’d never given anyone a present as beautiful as the flower that she’d grown with her very own magic. And that for the first time. Papa took one look at it and Eva could have sworn that he knew, especially by the way he and her father shared a look, but they both just smiled at her.

Her papa drew her into his lap and he kissed her cheeks and nose.

“That is the most beautiful gift anyone has ever given me, angel,” he said. Eva smiled.

She chewed the inside of her mouth as she looked up innocently at the two men looking down at her.

“Papa, father… Can I finally learn magic now? Like you?”

Father chuckled, and he pet her hair. “Yes, Evangeline. We’ll start right away.”

 


End file.
